F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1
The night before our annual in-service day, after everybody else has
gone home, two staff members stage 20 to 25 errors — things like a
bloody tourniquet left on a patient's bedside stand, a surgery schedule
in full view, an overflowing sharps container — at a bedside in our
PACU.
The next day staff are divided into two teams. Each team is brought
in to view the room for 30 seconds, and members write down all of
the errors they can find. This 30-second time limit is key. Anybody can
spot issues if they have the time to really look, but we all know how
fast everything moves at busy outpatient facilities. If your staff can
spot problems quickly and under pressure, there's a good chance
they'll do the same during a stressful surgery. After the scores are tal-
lied (a point for each mistake noticed), the team that spots the most
errors wins. This year every member of the winning team got
Starbucks gift cards. And deservedly so. They correctly guessed all 25
of the errors in the Secret Room.
Jane Bell, RN, BSN
Cityview Surgery Center
Fort Worth, Texas
jane@cityviewsurgery.com
